Automatic inflatable cushion

ABSTRACT

An automatic inflatable cushion includes a cushion body, at least two airbags installed in the cushion body and capable of adjusting height and saturation independently, and an elastic member having fine pores filled in each airbag, and a manual switch valve installed on an outer surface of each airbag, so that when the manual switch valve is pressed towards the inside from both sides, the elastic member in the airbag is expanded and inflated naturally to improve the convenience of adjusting the height and saturation of the cushion.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to cushions such as pillows, seatcushions, backrests etc provided for users to lay or sit on, inparticular to an automatic inflatable cushion whose height, saturation,and comfortability can be adjusted simply and easily.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Cushions including pillows, seat cushions and backrests available in themarket are provided for us to lay, sit or lean on. For example, anappropriate pillow usually has the effects of improving our sleepingquality significantly, overcoming the problem of cervical painseffectively, and providing good prevention and treatment to the cervicalpains. A major factor for determining whether or not a pillow isappropriate depends on the height and softness of the pillow, and ourliving habits are different from one another, so that the definition ofthe appropriate height and softness of the pillow varies. However, mostpillows available in the market are filled pillows, and the height andsoftness of such pillows are fixed and cannot be adjusted, so that it isnot easy for users to select the pillows with appropriate height andsoftness of themselves. Pillows with inappropriate height and softnessnot just cause difficulty to cure cervical fatigue and pain only, butalso affect sleeping quality and physical health. Similarly, theconventional filled seat cushions and backrests have the drawback ofunable to adjust the height and softness flexibly or meet therequirement of each individual's need.

In view of the aforementioned common drawback of the conventionalcushion including pillow, seat cushion, backrest, etc, an automaticinflatable was introduced into the market, and such cushion comprises anairbag installed in the cushion, an elastic member filled in the airbagand automatically expanded or compressed by external forces, and amanual air valve installed on a surface of the airbag and having asingle press button installed at the top of the manual air valve. When auser presses the press button, the airbag and the elastic member in thecushion are expanded, so that the air in the airbag is squeezed out fromthe manual air valve. Now, if the user releases the press button, theair in the airbag will be stopped from discharging out from the manualair valve, and the cushion will remain at a compressed status with theairbag. If the user presses the press button again, the elastic memberwill be expanded automatically to pop up the uncompressed airbag andcushion, so that the outside air is sucked into the airbag from themanual air valve naturally. Now, if the user releases the press button,the air in the airbag will be stopped from discharging out from themanual air valve, and the cushion will remain at an expanded status withthe airbag.

However, the drawback of such inflatable cushion resides on that thepress button is pressed by a user in a direction from the top of themanual air valve towards the airbag, so that when the user presses thecushion, the action force pressing on the press button is also appliedto the airbag to deform the cushion, distribute the user while adjustingthe height and softness of the cushion, and cause inconvenience to shapethe cushion.

In view of the aforementioned problems and drawbacks of the prior art,the inventor based on years of experience in the related industry toconduct extensive researches and experiments, and finally designed anddevelop an automatic inflatable cushion in accordance with the presentinvention to overcome the problems and drawbacks of the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, it is a primary objective of the present invention to providean automatic inflatable cushion, particularly the automatic inflatablecushion whose height and softness can be adjusted simply and easily toovercome the drawbacks of the prior art including the deformation of thecushion caused by pressing the press button from the top of the manualair valve towards the airbag, the interference to users to adjust theheight and softness of the cushion, and the inconvenience of shaping thecushion.

To achieve the aforementioned and other objectives, the presentinvention provides an automatic inflatable cushion, comprising: acushion body; at least two airbags, installed in the cushion and capableof adjusting the height and saturation; an elastic member, having finepores filled in the airbag; and a manual switch valve, installed on asurface of the airbag, and including a valve body interconnecting theinterior of the airbag to outside air, and two press buttonssymmetrically installed on both side of the valve body and provided forselectively opening and shutting the valve body.

In the aforementioned structure, each press button may be pressed fromboth sides of the valve body such that the press buttons become closerto each other in order to reduce the height of the cushion body andallow the interior of the airbag to be interconnected to outside air.Now, if the user presses the cushion body again, the airbag and its finepores and elastic member are compressed to discharge air from the valvebody. After the cushion body is compressed to an appropriate height, theuser may release each press button, and allow the press buttons torestore their original positions automatically to close the valve body,so that the interior of the airbag is isolated from the outside air.Such arrangement can maintain the height and softness of the cushionbody as the airbag shrinks.

If it is necessary to increase the height of the cushion body, the usermay press the press buttons again, so that the interior of the airbag isinterconnected to the outside air. Since the two press buttons aredisposed on both sides of the valve body respectively, the cushion bodyis not pressed when the force is applied to the press buttons, so thatthe airbag containing the elastic member with the fine pores is expandednaturally, and air enters from the valve body. After the airbag isinflated to an appropriate height, each press button is released, sothat the cushion body can increase the saturation and maintain theheight with the airbag.

In an embodiment, the valve body includes a valve chamber formed thereinand interconnected to the interior of the airbag, a valve port formedseparately on both sides of the valve body and interconnected to thevalve chamber, a valve door movably installed in the valve port, andspring installed between the valve doors and provided for driving thevalve door to open or shut the valve port, and each press button isinstalled on the respective valve door and exposed from the respectivevalve body through the respective valve port, and provided for beingpressed from both sides of the valve body towards the center of thevalve body to open the valve port.

In an embodiment, the valve body includes a flared ring disposed at thebottom of the valve body and capable of performing a high frequency wavesealing with the surface of the airbag surface, so that the ring can besoldered onto the valve body by high frequency wave sealing.

In an embodiment, the cushion body is a pillow, a seat cushion or abackrest.

In an embodiment, the two airbags are partially stacked, and the stackedposition of the airbags has a smaller thickness.

In an embodiment, the cushion body has a first arc surface, and theairbag has a second arc surface corresponsive to the first arc surface.

Compared with the prior art, the present invention includes at least twotwo airbags installed in the cushion body for independently adjustingheight and saturation, and an elastic member with fine pores filled inthe airbag, and a manual switch valve installed on a surface of theairbag. When use, the cushion body is pressed from both sides of themanual switch valve towards the center, so as to prevent the pressingforce from being applied onto the airbag or affecting the naturalexpansion or inflation of the elastic member, and improve theconvenience of adjusting the height and saturation and comfortability ofthe cushion. The present invention can overcome the problem of causing adeformation of the cushion body when a force applied to the press buttonis exerted onto the airbag.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the preferred embodiment of thepresent invention as depicted in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partial perspective blowup view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 4 is a exploded bottom view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a using status as depicted in FIG.5;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an implementation mode as depicted inFIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is a perspective bottom view of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is a cross0sectional view of a using status as depicted in FIG.9; and

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of two implementation modes adopted in apreferred embodiment of the present invention as depicted in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention will become clearer in light of the followingdetailed description of an illustrative embodiment of this inventiondescribed in connection with the drawings. It is intended that theembodiments and drawings disclosed herein are to be consideredillustrative rather than restrictive.

With reference to FIGS. 1 to 3 for an automatic inflatable cushion inaccordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; theautomatic inflatable cushion comprises a cushion body 100 made of afabric material, at least two airbags 20 installed in the cushion body100 and capable of independently adjusting height and saturation, andthe two airbags 20 being partially stacked with a smaller thickness atthe stacked position, and the airbags 20 being made of an airtightmaterial such as plastic or leather. In this embodiment, the cushionbody 100 is a pillow.

The airbag 20 includes an elastic member 30 with fine pores filledtherein, and the elastic member 30 is made of a sponge or foam material,or particles or filaments are compressed and then filled into abreathable material or bag to make the elastic member 30.

The airbag 20 includes a manual switch valve 40 installed on a surfaceof the airbag 20, and the manual switch valve 40 includes a valve body41 for selectively interconnecting the interior of the airbag 20 tooutside air, and two press button 421 symmetrically installed on bothsides of the valve body 41 for selectively opening and shutting thevalve body 41. Each manual switch valve 40 is installed at a positionopposite to an outer side of the cushion body 100 or installed at athinness-wise position opposite to a side of the cushion body 100without affecting the effect of serving as a cushion or pillow.

The valve body 41 of the manual switch valve 40 is exposed from an outersurface of the airbag 20 and an outer surface opposite to the top of thecushion body 100 or a thickness-wise position opposite to a side of thecushion body 100. In addition, an opening 11 is formed on both sides ofthe cushion body 100 and provided for exposing the valve body 41 of themanual switch valve 40. When the cushion body 100 is a pillow, themanual switch valve 40 should not be arranged at a position proximate tothe center of the top or the bottom of the cushion body 100 to preventthe pillow from having a protrusion at the position in contact with auser's body or affecting the user's sleeping.

With reference to FIGS. 3 to 5 for another preferred embodiment, thevalve body 41 includes a valve chamber 43 formed therein, and a throughhole 21 is formed on a surface of the airbag 20 and at a positioncorresponsive to the bottom of the valve body 41 and interconnected tothe interior of the airbag 20, and an air inlet 44 is formed at thebottom of the valve body 41 and interconnected to the valve chamber 43and the through hole 21. A valve port 45 is formed separately on bothsides of the valve body 41 and interconnected to the valve chamber 43,and a valve door 461 is movably installed in each valve port 45, and aspring 50 is installed between the valve doors 461, and the spring 50may be a compression spring for driving each valve door 461 to shut thevalve port 45. Each press button 421 is installed on the respectivevalve door 461, and exposed separately from both sides of the valve body41 through the valve port 45. In the embodiment, the valve door 461further includes an elastic airtight gasket 49 abutted against theperiphery of the valve port 45, such that when the valve door 461 shutsthe valve port 45, the airtight gasket 49 is attached and abuttedagainst the periphery of the valve port 45 to provide an airtighteffect.

In FIG. 6, the press buttons 421 may be pressed from both sides of thevalve body 41 towards the center of the valve body 41 to open the valveport 45. In addition, the valve body 41 includes a flared ring 47disposed at the bottom of the valve body 41 and capable of performing ahigh frequency wave sealing with a surface of the airbag 20, so that theflared ring 47 of the valve body 41 can be soldered with a surface ofthe airbag 20 directly by high frequency wave sealing.

The manufacturing procedure of the airbag 20 comprises the followingsteps:

1. Provide a fabric for making the airbag 20, and spread the fabricopen, and solder the ring 47 of the manual switch valve 40 to a surfaceof the fabric directly by a high frequency wave method, so that athrough hole 21 formed on a surface of the fabric is aligned preciselywith an air inlet 44 formed at the bottom of the manual switch valve 40.

2. Wrap an elastic member 30 into the fabric, so that the manual switchvalve 40 is disposed at an edge.

3. Apply a preload to the elastic member 30 to reduce the thickness ofthe elastic member 30, and then seal the periphery of the fabric by thehigh frequency wave sealing method to form the airbag 20, and theelastic member 30 wrapped in the airbag 20 always maintains an upwardlyor downwardly expanded elastic force.

Another manufacturing procedure of the airbag 20 comprises the followingsteps:

1. Provide a fabric for making the airbag 20, and spread the fabricopen, and solder the ring 47 of the manual switch valve 40 to a surfaceof the fabric directly by a high frequency wave method, so that athrough hole 21 formed on a surface of the fabric is aligned preciselywith an air inlet 44 formed at the bottom of the manual switch valve 40.

2. Seal the periphery of the fabric by the high frequency wave sealingmethod to form the airbag 20, and arrange the manual switch valve 40 atan edge of the airbag 20, and reserve a side pocket when sealing theperiphery of the airbag 20.

3. Stuff the elastic member 30 into the airbag 20 from the side pocket,and then sealing the side pocket of the airbag 20 by the high frequencywave sealing method, and the elastic member 30 stuffed in the airbag 20always maintains an upwardly or downwardly expanded elastic force.

With the aforementioned structure, each press button 421 may be pressedfrom both sides of the valve body 41 (as shown in FIG. 6) to overcomethe elastic force of the spring 50 in order to reduce the height of thecushion body 100, so that the valve doors 461 become closer to eachother with the press button 421 to open the valve ports 45 on both sidesof the valve body 41, and the interior of the airbag 20 isinterconnected to outside air through the through hole 21, the air inlet44, the valve chamber 43 and the valve port 45. Now, if any airbag 20 inthe cushion body 100 is pressed again, the airbag 20 and its fine poresand elastic member 30 will be compressed, and the air in the airbag 20will be released from the valve ports 45 on both sides of the valve body41 to the outside. After the cushion body 100 is compressed to anappropriate height, each press button 421 is released (as shown in FIG.5) to drive the spring 50 to restore the valve doors 461 and the pressbutton 421 to their original positions, and the valve doors 461 shut thevalve ports 45 on both sides of the valve body 41 respectively, so thatthe interior of the airbag 20 is isolated from the outside air to forman aright status. Therefore the height and softness of the cushion body100 are maintained as the airbag 20 shrinks.

If a user wants to increase the height of the cushion body 100, the usermay press the press buttons 421 again to open the valve ports 45 on bothsides of the valve body 41, so that the interior of the airbag 20 isinterconnected to outside air through the valve ports 45. Since the twopress buttons 421 are installed on both sides of the valve body 41respectively, therefore the force applied to the press buttons 421 isnot exerted onto the cushion body 100, and the elastic member 30 havingthe fine pores in the airbag 20 can be expanded naturally, and airenters from the valve ports 45 of the valve body 41. After the airbag 20is inflated to an appropriate height, each press button 421 is releaseto shut the valve port 45, so that the cushion body 100 can improve thesaturation and maintain the height with the airbag 20.

It is noteworthy that the elastic member 30 is made of a breathablematerial such as particles or filaments filled into a fabric or bag, sothat when air flows into or out of the airbag 20, the fabric or bag canblock the impact force of the air current exerted onto the particles orfilaments and prevent them from sticking onto the valve door 461 andprevent an air leakage of the valve door 461.

With reference to FIGS. 7 to 9 for another preferred embodiment, twosymmetrical axial connecting portions 48 are disposed on an inner wallof the valve chamber 43, and an axial sleeve 463 is formed at an end ofthe valve door 462 and pivotally coupled to the axial connecting portion48, so that an end of the valve door 462 is pivotally coupled to theinner wall of the valve chamber 43, and each press button 422 isinstalled on the respective valve door 462, and exposed from both sidesof the valve body 41 through the valve port 45. In FIG. 10, when theuser presses the press buttons 422 on both sides of the valve body 41,the valve doors 462 are driven by the press buttons 422 to rotate to atilted status to open the valve port 45. The remaining components andimplementation method are the same as the foregoing embodiments, andthus will not be repeated.

In FIG. 7, an elastic ring 12 may be installed at the periphery of theopening 11 for sheathing the flared ring 47 of the manual switch valve40 and preventing the exposed manual switch valve 40 from beingseparated from the opening 11 due to the movement of the cushion body100.

With reference to FIG. 11 for another feasible embodiment, the cushionbody 101, 102 may be a seat cushion or a backrest. If the cushion body102 is a backrest, the cushion body 102 may have a first arc surface 13,and the airbag 20 may have a second arc surface 22 corresponsive to thefirst arc surface 13, so that the seat cushion and the backrest may beused as an automobile seat cushion and backrest as well.

In summation, the present invention with the design of being pressedfrom both sides of the manual switch valve 40 towards the interior toprevent the pressing force from being exerted onto the airbag 20, sothat the natural inflation of the elastic member 30 will not beaffected, and the convenience of adjusting the height and saturation andcomfortability of the cushion can be improved. The invention canovercome the problem of the prior art having a deformation of thecushion body easily due to the forces applied to the conventional pressbutton being exerted onto the airbag.

1. An automatic inflatable cushion, comprising: a cushion body; at leasttwo airbags, installed in the cushion and capable of adjusting theheight and saturation; an elastic member, having fine pores filled inthe airbag; and a manual switch valve, installed on a surface of theairbag, and including a valve body interconnecting the interior of theairbag to outside air, and two press buttons symmetrically installed onboth side of the valve body and provided for selectively opening andshutting the valve body.
 2. The automatic inflatable cushion of claim 1,wherein the valve body includes a valve chamber formed therein andinterconnected to the interior of the airbag, a valve port formedseparately on both sides of the valve body and interconnected to thevalve chamber, a valve door movably installed in the valve port, andspring installed between the valve doors and provided for driving thevalve door to open or shut the valve port, and each press button isinstalled on the respective valve door and exposed from the respectivevalve body through the respective valve port, and provided for beingpressed from both sides of the valve body towards the center of thevalve body to open the valve port.
 3. The automatic inflatable cushionof claim 2, wherein the valve door includes an elastic airtight gasketinstalled thereon and abutting against the periphery of the valve port.4. The automatic inflatable cushion of claim 2, wherein the valve doorhas an end pivotally coupled to the valve body and the valve door isdriven by the press button to swing to a tilted status to open the valveport.
 5. The automatic inflatable cushion of claim 1, wherein thecushion body has an opening formed on a surface of the cushion body andprovided for exposing the manual switch valve.
 6. The automaticinflatable cushion of claim 5, wherein the opening has a ring sheathedon the manual switch valve.
 7. The automatic inflatable cushion of claim1, wherein the valve body includes a flared ring disposed at the bottomof the valve body and capable of performing a high frequency wavesealing with the surface of the airbag surface.
 8. The automaticinflatable cushion of claim 1, wherein the two airbags are partiallystacked, and the stacked position of the airbags has a smallerthickness.
 9. The automatic inflatable cushion of claim 1, wherein thecushion body has a first arc surface, and the airbag has a second arcsurface corresponsive to the first arc surface.
 10. The automaticinflatable cushion of claim 1, wherein each manual switch valve isinstalled at a position opposite to an outer side of the cushion body orat a thickness-wise position opposite to a side of the cushion body.